The stars aligned for this cocktail creation. On a recent trip to Florida we were fortunate to visit my cousin, Pieter V, along with his wife, Lisa, and their daughter, Alexis. Lisa generously offered to share some of a wonderful bounty of lemons from a friend’s garden. Don’t tell TSA that I managed to smuggle one of these precious lemons back to snowy Pennsylvania.
What to do with one of the largest, juiciest lemons I’ve ever seen? I also happened to be in need of a cocktail to celebrate being Irish and decided I was going to use the lemon to make something special for St. Patrick’s Day. Introducing the “My Irish Honey” cocktail. It’s like lemonade meets honey meets Irish whiskey.
I realize that not everyone has access to a lemon that produces about 6 ounces of lemon juice (that’s about 4 to 5 traditional lemons) but this is still a pretty easy recipe to make. Cutting into that lemon brought back fond food memories of eating lemons off of my friend’s lemon tree growing up in Los Angeles. Added bonus was that the color of the juice was a bit more orange than yellow like a regular lemon.
While this cocktail works for St. Patrick’s Day it’s good anytime of the year.
| My Irish Honey Cocktail | Print |
- ⅓ cup honey
- 1-1/2 cups steaming hot water (almost boiling)
- 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (~ 6 lemons)
- 8 ounces of Irish Whiskey (such as Jameson)
- Lemon wheels (for garnish)
- In a heatproof 1-quart measuring cup or bowl, combine the honey and hot water.
- Stir until the honey is dissolved.
- Stir in the lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate until cold and ready to serve.
- Fill highball glass or mason jar with ice.
- Place 2 ounces of Irish Whiskey in a glass and top with 6 ounces of honey-lemonade mixture and stir. Repeat for 3 more glasses.
- Garnish with 2 lemons wheels.
I thought your honey was Italian!
Geoff – That’s funny! Ed actually came up with the name so perhaps he was referring to me?
You, my friend, are a life saver! I am supposed to bring a first course OR cocktail for our St. Patrick’s Day dinner. And guess what they are getting??? Thank you so much…
David – Always here for a fellow foodie! I bet you may even have access to some locally grown lemons? Let me know what you think! Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
I love your Blog! Question: I’m Gluten Free and I thought whiskey was on the naughty list. I’m thrilled if this particular brand is safe so if you know something I don’t please share! You tagged the recipe Gluten and Wheat Free so just wondering (and hoping!). Thank you Martine
Martine – Thank you for your kind words and great question (and subscription!). When I went wheat-free I did a fair amount of research on whether certain liquors were gluten-free or not. While there is debate it’s generally felt that the gluten is removed during the distillation process (“According to the National Institutes of Health’s Celiac Disease Awareness Campaign, distilled alcohol is inherently gluten-free. This includes gin, vodka, scotch whisky, and rye whiskey. Although whiskeys are derived from wheat, barley, or rye, the distilling process removes the gluten proteins.”). This is more specific and hopefully helpful to you – I found this on the Jameson Irish Whiskey site: “Yes Jameson is gluten free and is therefore suitable for a celiac to drink. This is because the distillation removes any residual cereal protein. Also, no wheat paste is used in sealing our barrels.”
Well then…. thank you! You just made my day and I will celebrate a belated St. Patrick’s later on this evening? The conflicting views on GF and liquor are very confusing but I guess the trick is to try a little glass and if you get no bad reaction, then you’re good. You may enjoy my blog A Brit Peckish which has gluten free recipes. I’ve resurrected it after a year’s break and will be posting more recipes soon. Keep up the great work, I look forward to reading more from you.
Martine – Glad I made your day! I agree that you have to try a bit and see what works for you. I chose to go wheat-free to help my health not because I have to, so I may not be as sensitive to someone who truly has a gluten allergy such as Celiac disease. I subscribed to your blog last week and can’t wait to read more of your recipes!